Floridians press for Everglades and port money

May 19, 2013|By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON – The next big phase of Everglades restoration will plug canals, build levees and create giant storage areas to guide fresh clean water through western Broward and Palm Beach counties and into the core of the famed River of Grass.

The next big phase of Port Everglades expansion will deepen its channels to allow gigantic cargo ships to sail in from a widened Panama Canal.

Both are expected to generate thousands of jobs and bolster the local economy. Both depend on millions of federal dollars. And both took a giant stride toward reality last week when the U.S. Senate, after years of prodding from Florida environmentalists and port officials, approved a sweeping water bill that would authorize spending on these and other projects across the nation.

The Florida projects still face hurdles. But Senate passage of the long-awaited Water Resources Development Act, which had not been renewed since 2007, was a milestone that helps clear a path for a burst of construction and commerce. It still requires approval of the House of Representatives.

Port Everglades officials, who have been struggling for 16 years to get approval for an Army Corps of Engineers project to deepen the port's waterways, hope to clear the remaining hurdles by the end of this year.

"We think it's absolutely essential to sustain our economy here in Broward County," said port spokeswoman Ellen Kennedy. "Ships are getting larger, and we have to be able to accommodate that growth."

These plans gained momentum when the U.S. Senate passed the water authorization bill 84-to-13. Florida's senators were divided.

Democrat Bill Nelson, who escorted Washington leaders on tours of the Everglades to promote the bill, voted "yes." Republican Marco Rubio, who quietly took his own tour of the 'Glades earlier this month without notice or fanfare, voted "no."

Rubio spokeswoman Brooke Sammon said he objected because the bill does not address "the economic havoc that decreased water flows have created for the Apalachicola Bay's once-vibrant oyster industry." Florida is locked in a battle with Georgia and Alabama about how much water those states draw from rivers that join in North Florida to feed the Apalachicola.

The bill authorizes spending on projects that are approved by the Army Corps of Engineers by the end of 2013. Four Everglades projects already have been cleared by the Army Corps:

Water-preserve areas in western Broward County to store water during dry seasons and release it during dry periods.

A reservoir to store and filter water that now flows from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee estuary along Florida's west coast.

Everglades promoters are pushing hard to add another, far more important item to the list this year: the Central Everglades Planning Project, which would tie together several other projects and guide water through South Florida into the heart of the 'Glades.

"This is the core part of the ecosystem," said Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, who lobbied for the project in Washington and Tallahassee. "You are taking water from Lake Okeechobee south into the agricultural area and down into the central Everglades. It will be stored there. It will be cleaned. It will be moved under the Tamiami Trail bridge, into Everglades National Park and out to Florida Bay."

Port Everglades officials have lobbied for years for federal dredging money to deepen the port's waterways from 42 feet to 50 feet. That's considered essential to accommodate the mammoth cargo ships that will come through a widened Panama Canal, beginning in 2015.

A long-delayed economic assessment has snagged these plans. South Florida members of Congress are pressuring the Corps to clear the project by the end of the year.